My Home Ideas

Special Offers

Be the first to know about This Old House contests, sweepstakes, and events and receive special offers and promotions from your favorite home improvement brands. We'll even send you regular reminders to enter our sweepstakes.

If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Why do I have 3 sump pumps??

Moved to a new house and have a question, I have 2 sump pumps in my basement.. one in the middle and one in a crawl space, and another outside the house about 2 feet away. Is all this necessary, it seems like overkill to me, but I know very little about them.

Re: Why do I have 3 sump pumps??

Originally Posted by Ryan Z

Moved to a new house and have a question, I have 2 sump pumps in my basement.. one in the middle and one in a crawl space, and another outside the house about 2 feet away. Is all this necessary, it seems like overkill to me, but I know very little about them.

I doubt they would be there without need, but with that many and one outside too, I'd want to know where all the water was coming from and what (if anything) had been done to keep it outside and away the house where it belongs. And if groundwater was so much of an issue that it couldn't be mitigated from the outside, I'm not sure I'd want to build there in the mud. Sump pumps should be used for extreme cases of excess water, not as a way to create a dry area all by themself. Kind of like a bilge pump in a boat not being meant to compensate for a hole in the hull.

Re: Why do I have 3 sump pumps??

Thanks for the replies, the reason I asked this question: 1) never had a sump pump before and 2) I bought the house from an older lady and I'm not sure if she had just been suckered into all these pumps because someone told her she needed them... I don't live in a flood plain and I have dug into the backyard and trust me it is not mud, more like concrete...AND as far as the home inspector goes he was worthless, complete waste of money

Re: Why do I have 3 sump pumps??

Originally Posted by Ryan Z

...AND as far as the home inspector goes he was worthless, complete waste of money

In my genteel State, Home Inspectors have to be licensed and insured, and there is a method in place which handles the bad ones. You might not get your money back, but in reporting him you'll hopefully save the next poor soul from wasting their money too.